This invention relates to oximetry and, more particularly, to automatic calibration techniques employed in oximetry.
The arterial oxygen saturation and pulse rate of an individual may be of interest for a variety of reasons. For example, in the operating room up-to-date information regarding oxygen saturation can be used to signal changing physiological factors, the malfunction of anaesthesia equipment, or physician error. Similarly, in the intensive care unit, oxygen saturation information can be used to confirm the provision of proper patient ventilation and allow the patient to be withdrawn from a ventilator at an optimal rate.
In many applications, particularly including the operating room and intensive case unit, continual information regarding pulse rate and oxygen saturation is important if the presence of harmful physiological conditions is to be detected before a substantial risk to the patient is presented. A noninvasive technique is also desirable in many applications, for example, when a home health care nurse is performing a routine check-up, because it increases both operator convenience and patient comfort. Pulse transmittance oximetry is addressed to these problems and provides noninvasive, continual information about pulse rate and oxygen saturation. The information produced, however, is only useful when the operator can depend on its accuracy. The method and apparatus of the present invention are, therefore, directed to the improved accuracy of such information without undue cost.
As will be discussed in greater detail below, pulse transmittance oximetry basically involves measurement of the effect arterial blood in tissue has on the intensity of light passing therethrough. More particularly, the volume of blood in the tissue is a function of the arterial pulse, with a greater volume present at systole and a lesser volume present at diastole. Because blood absorbs some of the light passing through the tissue, the intensity of the light emerging from the tissue is inversely proportional to the volume of blood in the tissue. Thus, the emergent light intensity will vary with the arterial pulse and can be used to indicate a patient's pulse rate. In addition, the absorption coefficient of oxyhemoglobin (hemoglobin combined with oxygen, HbO.sub.2) is different from that of unoxygenated hemoglobin (Hb) for most wavelengths of light. For that reason, differences in the amount of light absorbed by the blood at two different wavelengths can be used to indicate the hemoglobin oxygen saturation, % SaO.sub.2 (OS), which equals ([HbO.sub.2 ]/([Hb]+[HbO.sub.2 ])).times.100%. Thus, measurement of the amount of light transmitted through, for example, a finger can be used to determine both the patient's pulse rate and hemoglobin oxygen saturation.
As will be appreciated, the intensity of light transmitted through a finger is a function of the absorption coefficient of both "fixed" components, such as bone, tissue, skin, and hair, as well as "variable" components, such as the volume of blood in the tissue. The intensity of light transmitted through the tissue, when expressed as a function of time, is often said to include a baseline component, which varies slowly with time and represents the effect of the fixed components on the light, as well as a periodic pulsatile component, which varies more rapidly with time and represents the effect that changing tissue blood volume has on the light. Because the attenuation produced by the fixed tissue components does not contain information about pulse rate and arterial oxygen saturation, the pulsatile signal is of primary interest. In that regard, many of the prior art transmittance oximetry techniques eliminate the so-called "DC" baseline component from the signal analyzed.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,706,927 (Wood) measurements of light absorption at two wavelengths are taken under a "bloodless" condition and a "normal" condition. In the bloodless condition, as much blood as possible is squeezed from the tissue being analyzed. Then, light at both wavelengths is transmitted through the tissue and absorption measurements made. These measurements indicate the effect that all nonblood tissue components have on the light. When normal blood flow has been restored to the tissue, a second set of measurements is made that indicates the influence of both the blood and nonblood components. The difference in light absorption between the two conditions is then used to determine the average oxygen saturation of the tissue, including the effects of both arterial and venous blood. As will be readily apparent, this process basically eliminates the DC, nonblood component from the signal that the oxygen saturation is extracted from.
For a number of reasons, however, the Wood method fails to provide the necessary accuracy. For example, a true bloodless condition is not practical to obtain. In addition, efforts to obtain a bloodless condition, such as by squeezing the tissue, may result in a different light transmission path for the two conditions. In addition to problems with accuracy, the Wood approach is both inconvenient and time consuming.
A more refined approach to pulse transmittance oximetry is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,331 (Nielsen). The disclosed oximeter is based upon the principle that the absorption of light by a material is directly proportional to the logarithm of the light intensity after having been attenuated by the absorber, as derived from the Beer-Lambert law. The oximeter employs light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to produce light at red and infrared wavelengths for transmission through tissue. A photosensitive device responds to the light produced by the LEDs, after it has been attenuated by the tissue, and produces an output current. That output current is amplified by a logarithmic amplifier to produce a signal having AC and DC components and containing information about the intensity of light transmitted at both wavelengths. Sample-and-hold circuits demodulate the red and infrared wavelength signals. The DC components of each signal are then blocked by a series of bandpass amplifier and capacitors, eliminating the effect of the fixed absorptive components from the signal. The resultant AC signal components are unaffected by fixed absorption components, such as hair, bone, tissue, skin. An average value of each AC signal is then produced. The ratio of the two averages is then used to determine the oxygen saturation from empirically determined values associated with the ratio. The AC components are also used to determine the pulse rate.
Another reference addressed to pulse transmittance oximetry is U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,290 (Wilker). In that reference, light pulses produced by LEDs at two different wavelengths are applied to, for example, an earlobe. A sensor responds to the light transmitted through the earlobe, producing a signal for each wavelength having a DC and AC component resulting from the presence of constant and pulsatile absorptive components in the earlobe. A normalization circuit employs feedback to scale both signals so that the DC nonpulsatile components of each are equal and the offset voltages removed. Decoders separate the two signals, so controlled, into channels A and B where the DC component is removed from each. The remaining AC components of the signals are amplified and combined at a multiplexer prior to analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion. Oxygen saturation is determined by a digital processor in accordance with the following relationship: ##EQU1## wherein empirically derived data for the constants X.sub.1, X.sub.2, X.sub.3 and X.sub.4 is stored in the processor.
European Patent Application No. 83304939.8 (New, Jr. et al.) discloses an additional pulse transmittance oximeter. Two LEDs expose a body member, for example, a finger, to light having red and infrared wavelengths, with each LED having a one-in-four duty cycle. A detector produces a signal in response that is then split into two channels. The one-in-four duty cycle allows negatively amplified noise signals to be integrated with positively amplified signals including the detector response and noise, thereby eliminating the effect of noise on the signal produced. The resultant signals include a substantially constant DC component and an AC component. To improve the accuracy of a subsequent analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion, a fixed DC value is subtracted from the signal prior to the conversion. This level is then added back in by a microprocessor after the conversion. Logarithmic analysis is avoided by the microprocessor in the following manner. For each wavelength of light transmitted through the finger, a quotient of the AC component over the constant component is determined. The ratio of the two quotients is then determined and fitted to a curve of independently derived oxygen saturations. To compensate for the different transmission characteristics of different patient's fingers, an adjustable drive source for the LEDs is provided.
In European Patent Application 83304940.6 (New et al.), a calibrated oximeter probe is disclosed. That probe includes a coding resistor or coding connector used to identify the particular combination of wavelengths of light emitted by the two LEDs contained thereon. Oximeter circuitry then senses the code of the resistor or connector to determine the wavelengths of light emitted by the LEDs. In this manner, the effect that different wavelengths have on the oxygen saturation computations can be compensated for. The basis upon which oxygen saturation is measured involves the determination of the quotient of the pulsatile component over the constant component of light transmitted at each wavelength. The ratio of the quotients for the two wavelengths is then fitted to a curve of independently derived oxygen saturations. Outputs include pulse rate and oxygen saturation.
Even with the calibration techniques of New, Jr. et al. employed, however, the wavelengths of light emitted by the LEDs may change in a manner that the oximeter circuitry is usable to detect. As will be appreciated, such variations can significantly affect the accuracy of the oxygen saturation measurements. The disclosed invention is directed to the provision of more complete information about the actual wavelengths of the light emitted and, hence, the production of more accurate oxygen saturation measurements.